Return to Cuesta Verde
by firefox b
Summary: The Freeling family is again visited by restless spirits, this time those of animals who kidnap the family's dog rather than their daughter...


Trisha pulled impatiently at her owner's leash during a walk. "There's an energy here...no, a presence!," she whined, uneasy in her new home. Steve, her owner, jerked at the leash, causing discomfort at Trisha's collar and curbing her pulling. "Fool!," thought the collie, "How like a human, and a male!-Totally insensitive to psychic energy!" Trisha sighed in resignation and fell in step with her master.

That night in the spacious and luxurious residence of the Freeling family, Trisha saw that her humans had retired for the evening, but carelessly left the television set monitor on, only switching off their cable box. The large flat screen plasma tv glowed in the darkness, its speakers emitting a static hiss. Trisha sat before the Zenith set, her brown eyes fixated on the screen and her head cocked to one side. There was a presence in there, and Trisha heard it softly beckon her closer. Curious, the collie moved nearer to the Zenith.

Suddenly an electrostatic discharge leaped from the screen, momentarily taking the form of two skeletal-appearing arms which enveloped the collie. Trisha yelped briefly, then was merged with a plasma energy which pulled her up to and through the screen and into a different dimension.

The next morning, the Freeling family sleepily went about their breakfast preparations. Their youngest daughter, Carol Anne, wandered from room to room searching for her dog and calling Trisha's name. "Mommy, do you know where Trisha is?," the little girl asked Diane, her mother.

"I thought I just heard her a few minutes ago," answered Diane. Momentarily the faint barking of a dog was audible as a distant and muffled sound. As the morning progressed, a number of other animal sounds were audible as well, although their source was unknown.

"They're here!," said Carol Anne, "But it's different this time."

"What do you mean, Honey?," her mother asked Carol Anne.

"Mommy, when all the trouble happened before, it was people who took me. This time, I think that it's animals that took Trisha!"

"So we've got larcenous, dog-stealing animal spirits!," muttered Steve Freeling sarcastically but with resignation. Things beyond belief had happened in his household before. "I guess we need that midget spiritual medium again!," he concluded.

The next morning summoned by an urgent call from the Freeling family, Tangina the medium appeared on the doorstep again. "I heard what you said about me," remarked Tangina testily to Steve Freeling, "and I don't like being referred to as a midget!"

"I'm sorry," apologized Steve, "I should have known better by now," he added.

"Yes, you should have," huffed the medium. "But I'm here to render assistance. Now hush up, so you don't jam my frequencies!"

With an apologetic wave, Steve Freeling stepped back. Tangina closed her eyes, elevated her head slightly, and appeared to enter an altered state of consciousness. After several minutes, she snapped out of it, a startled expression on her face.

"Well, what's going on?," Steve demanded to know impatiently.

"As you know, your previous house was built on top of a cemetery. It would appear that your new house was built on top of an animal slaughterhouse!"

"Oh snap!," exclaimed Steve, face-palming.

"The animals who died here perished suddenly and violently. There souls are in turmoil," continued Tangina. "The soul of your collie, Trisha, burns brightly. The troubled spirits of the slaughtered animals are drawn to your dog, like moths to a flame!," explained the small medium. "Her strong animal life-force reminds them of better days, of barnyards and green pastures," she added.

"Well, what are we supposed to do to appease them?," asked Diane.

"We must open a portal to the other dimension, and encourage them to seek out the greener pastures on the other side," said Tangina quietly. "Now, Carol Anne, let's go get your dog back!," directed Tangina with determination.

They advanced to an upstairs bedroom, behind the door of which a vortex swirled, a portal between this world and the life to come. Luminous images appeared and disappeared of cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens; a multitude of animal sounds were also audible. Among the cacophony of animal noises could be distinguished...the barking of a dog!

"We must make haste!," declared Tangina with urgency. "Diane, lift Carol Anne into the vortex; hold her tightly by the ankles, and don't let go or she'll be lost forever!"

*Carol Anne enters the void* "Trisha, come here, girl!"

"Beasts who hear my voice," intoned Tangina, "go into the light! All are welcome! There is good pasture there, and freedom from want and pain! Hasten to the light!"

(With a burst of spectral light, Carol Anne is extracted from the vortex, holding her dog. Trisha barks excitedly and licks Carol Anne's face) "Mommy!," cried Carol Anne, "we got slimed!"

"This house is _clean!_," exclaimed Tangina triumphantly.

"Well, one time our house was located on top of a graveyard!," exclaimed Steve Freeling. "Next it was located on top of an animal slaughterhouse! What more could go wrong?," he questioned.

It was then that the massive shadow of the alien spacecraft darkened the skies above Cuesta Verde...


End file.
